1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a switch-equipped coaxial connector provided with a pair of contacts caused to be in a mutually-separated state when an opposing connector is mated.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, a switch-equipped coaxial connector is used in an electronic device or an electric device such as a mobile phone. Such a switch-equipped coaxial connector is used as, for example, a small circuit test switch for testing the state or performance of various electronic circuits such as high-frequency circuits provided in the device. Each of circuit test switches disclosed in below-described Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H09-245907, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-359039, etc. is composed of a switch-equipped coaxial connector mounted on a circuit board so as to disconnect an electronic circuit of a main body of the device and is configured so that a probe (test needle) of a test plug connector serving as an opposing connector is inserted from the upper side toward the interior thereof through an opposing insertion hole provided in the switch-equipped coaxial connector.
In such a switch-equipped coaxial connector, an electrically-conductive shell for ground connection is attached to the outer side of an insulating housing, and a plurality of board connecting parts integrally projected from the electrically-conductive shell are configured to be joined by soldering with electrically-conductive paths on an illustration-omitted wiring board so as to be mounted thereon and subjected to use. A contact pair composed of a movable contact and a fixed contact for signal transmission is attached to the interior of the insulating housing of this case, and the movable contact and the fixed contact of the pair are respectively connected to a first side and a second side of an electronic circuit (illustration omitted) provided on the main body of the device.
A distal end of the probe (test needle) of the test plug connector, which has been inserted from the upper side, is brought into contact with the switch-equipped coaxial connector with a pressure so as to push and open a free-end part of the movable contact, which swings in an approximately horizontal plane, and, as a result, the movable contact swings and is separated from the fixed contact to disconnect the original electronic circuit. At the same time, the movable contact 1 is brought into contact with a lower-end part of the probe; and, as a result, the probe becomes a state that the probe is conducted to another electronic circuit of the main body of the device so that, for example, an arbitrary test can be executed by outputting electric signals from the electronic circuit to the outside through the probe.
However, such a conventional switch-equipped coaxial connector may cause a problem in electrical connectivity since the contacts may undergo plastic (permanent) deformation when the probe (test needle) of the test plug connector is inserted, particularly when it is repeatedly inserted. A means that enhances elasticity by increasing the span of the contacts is conceivable in order to prevent such plastic deformation. However, if the lengths of the contacts are simply increased, the size of the whole connector is increased, which goes against recent demands for downsizing and reduction in height. Also, there is a problem that minute debris or dust such as insulating matters present in a usage atmosphere may enter the interior through the insertion hole of the probe (test needle) of the test plug connector and cause insufficient electrical connection.